Guides: Film & Video Technology: Databases

Streaming Plaforms

Film Paltform
Meticulously curated by film experts and leading academics to showcase meaningful documentaries of social, political, and cultural importance. Each of our films upholds the highest standards and speaks directly to today’s most pressing topics and concerns. (Film Platform)

Free Online Streaming Archives

AfriDocs
AfriDocs Anytime is a FREE streaming platform with a growing catalogue available for viewing at any time. It’s like having a film festival on your screen that gives you access to powerful, quality, award-winning documentaries.
Black Film Archive
Black Film Archive is a living register of Black films. In its current iteration, it showcases Black films made from 1915 to 1979 currently streaming.
Internet Archive Moving Image
This library contains digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download.

Video Tutorial: What is a Library Database?

What is a database?

A database is a collection of data grouped together for a specific purpose. A database is used to keep large amounts of information organised. This enables people to search for relevant information. You can sort, browse and find information in a database.

Video Source: RMIT University

Subject Specific Databases

Academic Onefile This link opens in a new window
Academic OneFile is the premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources.
Aluka This link opens in a new window
Aluka is an international, collaborative initiative building an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa.
Art & Architecture Complete This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include art, antiques, archaeology, architecture and architectural history, art history, decorative arts, painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, costume design, sculpture, interior and landscape design, graphic arts, etc.
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Links to electronic access to encyclopaedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
This scholarly art encyclopedia covers all aspects of Western and non-Western visual art. It includes the full text of The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner (1996, 34 volumes).

Multidisciplinary Databases

Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Academic OneFile is the premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources.
Cambridge Journals Online This link opens in a new window
Containing the latest research from a broad sweep of subject areas, there are 250 peer-reviewed academic journals for the global market in this database - spanning over 32 subject areas, ranging from Agriculture, Archaeology and Anthropology, Business Management, Nutrition, to Psychology and Cognitive Science, Religion and Social Studies.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Offering 550 highly-regarded reference titles, Credo General Reference Premium covers every major subject from the world's best publishers of reference works.
Current & Completed Research (Sabinet) This link opens in a new window
South African research projects in economics, science, humanities and includes the masters and doctoral theses from the South African Universities and technikons, as well as the research works from the government, non-government and private sectors.
DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals This link opens in a new window
Provides access to open access peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journals.
Dissertations and Theses (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Doctoral dissertations and master's theses are a vital fund of scholarship for any discipline. The massive body of work available through ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) represents the most comprehensive source of academic research in the world.
EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
Medicine, Nutrition, diseases, Public Health, Occupational Health and Safety, hardware, software, Electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, and many more general interest topics.
Gale/Infotrac This link opens in a new window
Medicine, Nutrition, diseases, Public Health, Occupational Health and Safety, hardware, software, Electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, and many more general interest topics.
National Research Foundation (NRF) This link opens in a new window
Research and Knowledge Networking Databases in South Africa.
Proquest This link opens in a new window
Social Sciences, Telecommunications, Education, Science, Engineering, Dissertations & Thesis, Business, Economics, Medical, Agriculture and Computing.
SA-ePublications (Sabinet) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to articles published in South African journals.
Swetswise This link opens in a new window
The service offers a straightforward interface simplifying online access to electronic publications.
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (OKR) This link opens in a new window
This repository contains various World Bank publications from 2009-2012 (more than 2,100 books and papers) across a wide range of topics and all regions of the world. This includes the World Development Report, and other annual flagship publications, academic books, practitioner volumes, and the Bank's publicly disclosed country studies and analytical reports. The repository also contains journal articles from 2007-2010 from the two World Bank journals WBRO and WBER.